Some developers for Microsoft’s high-tech table, the Surface, have created a mobile app for iOS, optimized for both the iPhone and iPad, which lets you share all sorts of multimedia and files between each other without needing the awkward tags that the Surface usually needs.

When the app is running, Amnesia Connect basically turns an iPad or iPhone screen into a part of the table; drag a virtual magazine on the Surface so part of it is under the phone, and it shows up on screen as if you can see right through it. Scaling the object bigger or smaller is also reflected, as well as moving the handset rather than the virtual object. The reflect object doesn’t even need to be identical on the iPhone or iPad – it can have animations, or show an alternative version of the image. There’s all kinds of stuff that can be shared between devices, like music, photos, videos, and no doubt more, depending on what Surface owners are looking for.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Microsoft Surface used in a store anywhere here in Canada, but that’s not to say they don’t exist, nor that they shouldn’t. Hopefully apps like this that empower folks to use their phones for day-to-day shopping and media sharing would offer some incentive to companies to get Surfaces installed, especially while it’s still futuristic and we aren’t bored with the idea, jaded tech enthusiasts that we are. I suppose it doesn’t help that the Surface costs something in the neighbourhood of $10,000.

For now, Amnesia only works with iOS devices, but Android, Windows Phone, and BlackBerry are in the works. They’re also looking at enabling NFC, so you could pay for stuff that you might see in this app while hardly doing a thing.